Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Atticus §7.13A.1-7.13A.3

Distrust of L. Caesar and the Arrival of Labienus

Passage 153 of 461 · Latin

Summary

Cicero explains that he has solved Atticus's riddle concerning the Oppii and reports on his meeting with L. Caesar, whom he describes as utterly incompetent. He also mentions Labienus's arrival, which has brought encouragement, and requests frequent updates on political and military movements as well as advice on his family.

§7.13A.1iam intellexi tuum; Oppios enim de Velia saccones dicis.
I have now understood your riddle; for by sack-carriers of Velia you mean the Oppii.
in eo aestuavi diu.
I was in a sweat over that for a long time.
quo aperto reliqua patebant et cum Terentiae summa congruebant.
Once this was revealed, the rest lay open and agreed with Terentia's total.
§7.13A.2L. Caesarem vidi Menturnis a. d.
I saw L.
viii Kal. Febr. mane cum absurdissimis mandatis, non hominem sed scopas solutas, ut id ipsum mihi ille videatur inridendi causa fecisse qui tantis de rebus huic mandata dederit; nisi forte non dedit et hic sermone aliquo arrepto pro mandatis abusus est.
Caesar at Minturnae on the morning of January 23 with most absurd instructions—not a man, but a loose bundle of twigs—so that he who gave instructions to this man on such important matters seems to me to have done that very thing for the sake of mocking; unless by chance he did not give them, and this fellow, having snatched up some conversation, misused it in place of instructions.
§7.13A.3Labienus, vir mea sententia magnus, Teanum venit a. d. viiii Kal.
Labienus, a great man in my opinion, came to Teanum on January 22.
Ibi Pompeium consulesque convenit.
There he met Pompey and the consuls.
qui sermo fuerit et quid actum sit scribam ad te cum certum sciam.
What the conversation was and what was done I will write to you when I know for certain.
Pompeius a Teano Larinum versus profectus est a. d. viii Kal.
Pompey set out from Teanum towards Larinum on January 23.
Eo die mansit Venafri.
On that day he stayed at Venafrum.
iam aliquantum animi videtur nobis adtulisse Labienus.
Labienus seems already to have brought us a considerable amount of courage.
sed ego nondum habeo quod ad te ex his locis scribam; ista magis exspecto, quid illim adferatur, quo pacto de Labieno ferat, quid agat Domitius in Marsis, Iguvi Thermus, P. Attius Cinguli, quae sit populi urbani voluntas, quae tua coniectura de rebus futuris.
But I do not yet have anything to write to you from these parts; I rather expect news from your quarters: what is brought from there, how he takes the news about Labienus, what Domitius is doing among the Marsi, Thermus at Iguvium, P. Attius at Cingulum, what the will of the city people is, what your conjecture is about future events.
haec velim crebro et quid tibi de mulieribus nostris placeat et quid acturus ipse sis scribas.
I would like you to write often about these things, and what you think best about our women, and what you yourself are going to do.
si scriberem ipse, longior epistula fuisset, sed dictavi propter lippitudinem.
If I were writing myself, the letter would have been longer, but I dictated it because of my eye-inflammation.

Notes

  1. 7.13A.1saccones — Meaning 'sack-carriers' or 'money-bags,' a slang or colloquial term referring to money-lenders or porters, resolving the riddle mentioned in Atticus's previous letter.
  2. 7.13A.2scopas solutas — Literally 'untied brooms' or 'loose twigs,' an idiomatic expression for something disjointed, useless, or a person lacking consistency and firmness. Here it describes the incompetence of Lucius Caesar.
  3. 7.13A.2ut id ipsum mihi ille videatur — ut introduces a consecutive clause ('so that'). The subject of videatur is ille (referring to Julius Caesar), which is further modified by the relative clause beginning with qui. videatur takes the infinitive fecisse as its complement.
  4. 7.13A.3Iguvi Thermus, P. Attius Cinguli — Iguvi (at Iguvium) and Cinguli (at Cingulum) are locative cases of second-declension town names, indicating the locations where Thermus and Publius Attius are operating, sharing the verb agat ('is doing').

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §7.13A.1-7.13A.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:7.13A.1-7.13A.3

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